Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
Joshua Weilerstein
4.9 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 1 August 2024
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
They are the most famous 8 notes in not only Western Music, but probably in all of music. If you walk down the street and ask someone to name a painting, they might say the Mona Lisa. A movie? Maybe Star Wars. A piece of classical music? Certainly, it would be Beethoven 5. But why? What makes those 8 notes so arrestingly powerful? Well, this week, we're going to take a deep look at this ubiquitous piece, exploring lots of different questions. What inspired Beethoven to write such a piece (a hint here, it probably wasn't fate knocking at the door)? How was this symphony different from everything that came before it? What influence did it have on composers of the future? What are the OTHER 3 movements of the symphony like, since many people only know the first movement? This symphony is monumentally important because in many ways it serves as the fulcrum between the classical and romantic eras. It is the most quoted piece of classical music there is, and it remains the most played symphony in the world. Today on this show from the archives, we're going to be exploring this symphony including new material that includes discoveries I've made about the symphony only in the last year or so, including the impact that the French Revolution had on the conception of this symphony. Join us!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Sticky Notes, the Classical Music Podcast. My name is Joshua |
| 0:17.4 | Weilerstein. I'm a conductor, and I'm the chief conductor of the All Borg Symphony |
| 0:20.9 | and the music director-designate of the Orchestra Nacional de Lille. |
| 0:24.7 | This podcast is for anyone who loves classical music, works in the field, or is just getting |
| 0:29.5 | ready to dive in to this amazing world of incredible music. |
| 0:33.0 | Before we get started, I want to thank my new Patreon sponsors, Adam, Doug, K.L., Jesse, Paul, |
| 0:39.6 | and all of my other Patreon supporters for making Season 10 possible. |
| 0:43.8 | If you'd like to support the show, please head over to patreon.com slash sticking out its podcast. |
| 0:48.8 | And if you are a fan of the show, please take a moment to give us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:53.6 | It is greatly appreciated. |
| 0:55.7 | So I recently asked my Facebook followers if they were familiar with the archives of this show. |
| 1:02.1 | 230 episodes about so much different repertoire. |
| 1:05.8 | And I actually got a lot of messages from people who were not familiar with the archives. |
| 1:09.7 | And they didn't know, for example, that there is a complete set of shows on the Beethoven symphonies back in the archives. |
| 1:16.1 | So I've decided to bring one of those episodes back just to give you a taste of what you can find, |
| 1:22.6 | all, of course, for free in the archives. |
| 1:25.1 | And this is on perhaps the most famous piece ever written, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. |
| 1:29.1 | But I haven't just brought the episode back completely. |
| 1:31.8 | I've also added to it a little bit, |
| 1:34.2 | because there are things in this episode that I've discovered |
| 1:36.8 | since I made the original episode. |
| 1:39.3 | It's one of those great things about classical music. |
... |
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